Moved to South Carolina - HUGE MISTAKE (Columbia, Charleston: for sale, property tax)

[pminct]

Do you have a spreadsheet or something that you compiled all this info on? If so, I'd love to have a copy of it, to help me in my search.

please email me a copy if you have it - pgnm@sbcglobal.net

Patty in CT

Originally Posted by Danny5smom

Not wanting to sound rude, but did you not realize this when you moved? Major metropolitan areas tend to have higher salaries to offset the higher costs of living. I would guess that living near Chicago, salaries are high, but so are housing prices and rents. We live relatively close to San Francisco where paychecks are a nice chunk of change, but cost of living is through the roof.

Maybe my husband and I are just super retentive, but in planning our move, we sat down and have attempted to figure out what would be financially best for our family. We took into account state income tax, tax deductions, house payments, all insurances, property taxes, heating/cooling costs, water and sewer, gasoline prices, sales taxes, and everything else we could possibly think of and then compared what we're paying now in CA to what we will be paying when we move to SC. We then took into account that we will be on my husband's salary only until I find work (if I choose to do so). What we came up with was that even after the reduction in salary, we'll be better off financially in SC than we are currently in CA. So, for us, looking at the raw numbers, it's a financial win for us. I just assumed that other people did the same thing. Maybe not.

I guess if I can find something positive to say about your post it would be that it serves as a great warning to people not to jump blindly into something as major as a cross country relocation. I just feel that people should research their financial decisions and then make the best possible choices based on that research. I wish you luck in returning to the Chicago area and want to thank you for being an example of what could possibly happen when you make a major move without a lot of planning.

[pminct]

I've never heard this quote before, being from New England. But I also hear that if I move to SC, I'll be referred to as a Yankee forever!!! And I also heard that sometimes Yankees are treated indifferently - but from reading these posts, it sounds like Southern Hospitality wins out - I certainly hope so.

Patty in CT

Originally Posted by anonymous

I'm sorry you don't like it. I can understand how, being from Chicago, it was not what you expected it to be. Things sometimes happen like that. If it was what you had expected it to be, I probably wouldn't call it home.

But I'm curious about this comment. I constantly hear that "Southerners are stuck in the Civil War". Yet, in the south, I don't often hear anything about the Civil War. Sometimes I think transplants take all the cultural differences that southerners have, and the way of life that we have, and just mash it up into one phrase about the civil war. So, do you mean this literally, or figuratively?

Can you elaborate about this?

[donsabi]

Every once and a while someone posts some good news. Here's my good news; I sold my house in SC and almost recovered all the money I put into it. I will be back in PA in time to enjoy the fall. Life is good!
Don

[MOHIllbillyWoman]

Originally Posted by chitownguy

I moved to the Summerville area 2 years ago from Illinois (Northern suburbs of Chicago) - and can't wait to get out of here!! In the process of listing the house. My wife & I had thought that moving someplace w/ a lower cost of living would be a GREAT idea. Boy, were we wrong, because along w/ a lower cost of living comes LOWER PAYCHECKS!

DUH!!!! That happens to be economics 101!

Originally Posted by chitownguy

Both my neighbors on either side of my house are from out of state, one from Michigan, one from Florida. They are BOTH looking to get out, too! It appears that many ppl move here from other areas for a couple of years, like it for a while, and then realize South Carolina isn't what they imagined!! The schools are the worst, crime is rampant, and the weather isn't that much better. This past summer was H-O-T. The winter is bitter and cold (and I'm from Illinois!). Not only that, but everyone around here is still STUCK in the Civil War. What's up w/ THAT???

South Carolina...what part of SOUTH did you not maybe understand?

I used to live in Myrtle Beach, long ago before it became a tourist haven, and I found SC to be quite beautiful and lots of wonderful people. Of course I am originally from MO, so I completely understand about the War for Southern Indelendence.

Originally Posted by chitownguy

South Carolina is a GREAT place to vacation, see the sights, go to the beach. Living here.....not so great. We are sooooo outta here!!!!!

Probably better for you since you dislike it so much. I loved the state but then I think that all states have something positive to offer people. The right people usually find the right place to live in due time.

[tansiman]

I walked into a service business in Greenville SC, posted on the wall was a rather large sign : " I don't care to hear how you did it better up North !! "
My personal experience , with all due respect, yankees move to the south and then complain about the heat, the slow pace, the "war" , the way we talk, the lack of snow, but then they stay ? Does it give you a clue? They really like it , but it is so hard for them to say it ! On more, while I am on a roll, I saw a bumper sticker in Beaufort SC : Welcome to Beaufort, now Leave !!

[MrsSoup67]

Originally Posted by tansiman

I walked into a service business in Greenville SC, posted on the wall was a rather large sign : " I don't care to hear how you did it better up North !! "
My personal experience , with all due respect, yankees move to the south and then complain about the heat, the slow pace, the "war" , the way we talk, the lack of snow, but then they stay ? Does it give you a clue? They really like it , but it is so hard for them to say it ! On more, while I am on a roll, I saw a bumper sticker in Beaufort SC : Welcome to Beaufort, now Leave !!

Considering we are hoping to move because we don't want anymore snow, need a slower pace, love regional accents, have family from the south and just need to get away from the north. We should do just fine. But I hope I will be judged for who I am and not what is says on my birth certificate.

[jkwing]

Well I am sick of SC and am moving back to Texas, where folks are friendly, the air is clean and dry and there is room to roam

[Waterslaw]

We avoid Yankee comments because we say we are from Reno Nevada or Sioux Falls south Dakota.

As for religious folks, I stay far away from that talk. It will only lead me to say something I shouldn't.

As for friendly folks, we find them everywhere we go mostly.
As for the weather, I'm getting used to sticky, sweaty and moldy.

Only trouble is that I can't speak the same language, but I'm LARNIN, YALL.

[Skyliner]

Originally Posted by tansiman

I walked into a service business in Greenville SC, posted on the wall was a rather large sign : " I don't care to hear how you did it better up North !! "
My personal experience , with all due respect, yankees move to the south and then complain about the heat, the slow pace, the "war" , the way we talk, the lack of snow, but then they stay ? Does it give you a clue? They really like it , but it is so hard for them to say it ! On more, while I am on a roll, I saw a bumper sticker in Beaufort SC : Welcome to Beaufort, now Leave !!

That sign was probably meant as a joke. I don't know of any business in Greenville that would try to limit its patrons to locals only using such a method. Also, that bumper sticker sounds just like the one you said you saw in Greenville. I have never seen it, but apparently it is not unique to one location.

[tansiman]

Just sharing information, but I hope you know that once people find a great place, Greenville, or Beaufort, SC or any place someone falls in love with, they do not want anymore population increase. ( unless they make their money on the population increase ) They want to keep it a secret ! Therefore, the simple understanding of the bumper sticker: Welcome to............ now leave !
On the SIGN in the store , the business in Greenville is not trying to limit its patrons to locals, it is a simple easy to understand,sarcastic way for the business to let anyone that reads it to know that they have people that come into the business and tell them how it is done better somewhere else that they are from. I don't think that it is a form of discrimination, I don't think that we need to call the discrimination police. Are we only sharing PC, Chamber of Commerce data ?
Also, I am new to this forum, is this forum just for Realtors?